TITLE: Rooms
AUTHOR: James L. Rubart
AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.JamesLRubart.com
GENRE: Adult, Christian, Mystery, Fantasy
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2010 – B&H Books
MY RATING: 2
AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.JamesLRubart.com
GENRE: Adult, Christian, Mystery, Fantasy
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2010 – B&H Books
MY RATING: 2
SYNOPSIS:
(Courtesy of Goodreads-No Spoilers!)
On a rainy spring day in Seattle, young
software tycoon Micah Taylor receives a cryptic, twenty-five-year-old letter
from a great uncle he never knew. It claims a home awaits him on the Oregon
coast that will turn his world inside out. Suspecting a prank, Micah arrives at
Cannon Beach to discover a stunning brand new nine-thousand square foot house.
And after meeting Sarah Sabin at a nearby ice cream shop, he has two reasons to
visit the beach every weekend.
When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way. But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.
When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way. But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.
REVIEW:
**SPOILER ALERT**
The main character, Micah, is pushed
into a journey of spiritual discovery. This book had a great premise:
A house that represents his soul. I liked the idea of the house and dealing
with the hidden parts of the soul. My mother uses this sort of thing (she calls
it the House of Soul) in her wholeness counseling sessions. (Link to her blog:
bearcreekblog.com) I went right out and bought it from Books-A-Million with
high hopes but sadly they were dashed.
The major theme of the story is giving
up worldly things for things of the spirit: Choosing God over money. I
was happy with this concept until the guy is losing things as he advances
his relationship with God in a sci-fi way, not in a "turning from it"
sort of way. It made the whole story ridiculous. None of this book seemed like
Micah had a choice at all. To me, God gives us a choice to seek him or not. God
gives us the choice to lay aside the things of this world.
If a good Christian guy has a fab idea
and sells it to the world, does that mean he has a bad relationship with God?
This is a trite generalization. It makes this character seem contrived for the
sake of making this lesson plain to people. Micah gets to know God and
therefore loses things in his life. They are mysteriously changing (for the
worse.) He doesn’t intentionally decide to leave certain things behind. They
are TAKEN from him. It feels more like a punishment for knowing God
than the changing of a man’s heart. I’m sad that it appears that way. It
really could have been a good demonstration of how to come to wholeness in our
own lives.
God gives us a choice to lay the things
of this world aside. It would have made for a more practical story to see Micah
do it intentionally. So, BIG Strike
One!
Strike
Two: Holy preach-fest! It's hard
to read a novel that has almost as much bible verse quotes as it does pros.
People don't go around talking like that. I don't think even God's angels would
quote scripture like the one in this book does. (Do you quote your friends from
what they've written, or by what you talk about with them?)
Strike
Three: There is no such thing as
self-deliverance. Maybe I’ll pretend it was fiction based on fiction, OR I’ll
say that I work in deliverance ministry and there’s no way a demon will leave
just because you get worked up into a religious frenzy and tell it to leave.
Ain’t happ’nin’! No one has ever, or will ever see the middle of their own back
with their own eyes. Only where "two or more are gathered" and the
full name/authority of Jesus will this ever occur. (Link: PropheticDeliverance by Tim Mather )
RATING:
HYPE-BUSTER: They say this book is like THE SHACK by William
Young. Let me sum up with one word: NOPE! The Shack has truth in it without
being preachy. So it can be done… Christian Fiction without preachy-ness—what a
novel idea!